One year, one month and 10 days

Although I have been into the Central library many times since the earthquake and helped remove stuff and grab a few of my own work essentials, today I got to go in and actually start clearing out my very messy office.  The highlights of my morning were

• finding my Roxy jandles that I have spent all summer looking for
• getting out my own (empty) filing cabinet
• my pen holder (the paper cup has just not been doing it for me)
• and my in-tray
• lovely little notes and drawings I had around my office from Nic
• my scale rule
• my apothecary sniff box

Small but significant treasures
I also took some photos

bit of a mess from the door

Lots of mouldy stuff on the floor...thanks to the only leak int he building

Chsritchurch Cathedral in the back there

Looking down Gloucester

Through to the Square, Anthony Harper and Clarendon Towers

Victoria Square



Looking south down Colombo



The places you will go

One of the great things about children (your own generally) is the places they take you.  As a child I would never had the opportunity to participate in a Tryathlon.  I am astounded at how cool kids are who just get out there and have a really good go at things they wont win but will get the wonderful experience of participating and finishing, knowing they have done their best and gone hard out.  Yay to all those great kids.

Pre event breakfast loading

Three hours waiting patiently and ready to go

Transition

Excellent finish

Sunday Sunday 1 April

Nothing beats a warm autumnal day on the first day of daylight saving fall back.  It means a very cruisy day with a sleep in.  This was made possible by Ben Davis who stayed the night and kept Nic away for some hours first thing this morning.  Good to have a coffee at Blax afterwards.  Got to keep our local businesses going by turning up and spending money. 

Ben and Nic Hagley Park

Peacock Fountain...gorgeous

Shadows

Hang in there  Blax

Ellerslie 2012

After being robbed of the chance to wander amongst the garden artists last year we were blessed with a shake free weekend to visit the Ellerslie Flower Show.  It was jolly windy and very autumnal feeling but I loved it.   We thought there was a distinct lack of retail for us to enjoy this year.  I went with my lovely Alex and we chose to extend our late afternoon whimsey with a lovely glass of Mt Difficulty Pinot...yeah.

The supreme winner (only part of the whole thing)

 Like the foliage mix, texture and colour here.

Xanthe White's simple but stunning design

I am going to do this one day

Red making a statement

Next post will have some of the sculpture, a dream of mine to own every year but never being able to bring myself to spend thousands on garden art.  One day.

One year on

Just so you don't think that life has been all books, movies and holidays in the last year, I thought I would do an earthquake anniversary blog post.  Sallyscape is all about happiness and positivity but over the last year it has been a bit hard to fill it up with stunning loveliness as life has been rather bloody shitty.   Always a positive person I have been challenged but hope I have shared enough of the good. 

On Feb 22 2012 I did spend a bit of my day quietly sobbing and thinking hard about what I would write.  But now I can't be bothered sharing it so it was a day of internalising feelings after all.  I did go to the memorial in the park which was quiet and respectful and warm.  Sad too.  At the end of this service they played a lovely piece of positivity to get us all back on track.  It is tiring and a bit numbing to keep going sometimes and lately it has been harder.  However, I feel really good about the future again after a little month of dipping down.  I am very happy to share this YouTube link with you.  It is 12 mins long so get yourself a cuppa and sit back and enjoy.  The cool thing about Christchurch is that we all now some of these people.

Just finished reading #49

Ed King - David Guterson

I have taken the time to read some reviews of this book before writing mine as I had heard it had been given a 'bad sex writing' award so thought I should see what the world thought of it.  The bad sex writing is correct but when I was reading that I thought it said more about the characters than bad writing but now that I think about it....The guy at the Guardian hated it but others enjoyed.

Sex is quite important in this book because it is an Oedipal tale.  I didn't focus on the tale too much on before I read the book and did my usual gasp at various points...not a sexual gasp I might add, just a dawning.  The joys of not reading blurbs and reviews before I read a book.

The writing is quality writing; a style of omnipotent fact telling I really like.  It moved around a bit from Seattle 1962 to the future with each character getting spotlight chapter in equal measures.  Walter is our first protagonist and he has a lot of sex with the au pair, Diane, and she gets pregnant.  Ed King is their child.  That is all I will tell you about the plot, I am not a spoiler.  However, what I did enjoy (something I always find appealing) is the cleverness of the lead female character.  Conniving, ruthless, driven and so kick arse confident.   The 'search' motif through the book is appealing to me also being a librarian, finding stuff is what we do well so Ed's search software and his need to know everything was cool, although it was his undoing.  Can you ever know too much and is truth the ultimate?

Just finished reading #48

Zugwang Ronan Bennett
Synopsis from the cover ...

St Petersburg, 1914. Dr Otto Spethmann, a famous psychoanalyst, is implicated in a murder. But he is preoccupied with two disturbing new patients: Anna Petrovna, the troubled society beauty with whom he is inappropriately falling in love, and Avrom Rozental, the brilliant chess master who is due to play the most important competition of his life but is on the verge of a breakdown. With the city rife with speculation and alarm, Spethmann must rely on his wits if he wants to save those he loves an escape from a Zugzwang of passion and politics.

I really enjoyed this book.  For some reason I am attracted to Russia as a setting for novels.   Great writing, nice and tight.  It was a real thriller set in a time of mistrust and on the edge of revolution where no one could trust anyone and loyalty was bought and sold.  The Zugzwang refers to the chess move and with a chess game going on through the game there was a clever relationship between it and the action on the page.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good murder and/or if you are wanting to read something interesting and thought provoking.  A good solid read.

Sherlock and Hugo

Three movies in one week.  Heaven.  Firstly Sherlock Holmes: A game of shadows was another slick film at the hand of Guy Ritchie.  Basically taking a formula that worked well in the first film and applying it to the second was the plan.  I loved the first one and thought the second ok and interesting and visually rich but not quite the exciting event that the first one was.  However, the action was thrilling and Robert Downey just charming and gorgeous.  Definitely a fun Saturday night film

Nic and I read the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret and loved it so much.  It is a stunning book with amazing hand drawn pictures and a great story.  The film was as beautiful and was interpreted beautifully.  Lovely Johnny Depp had a little cameo which is always a treat and later I realised he was also the producer.  Set in Paris in about 1925  it captured the love of a child, the development of machinery and some real sadness.  It was delicious and as many adults as children were in the audience.  Well worth a look.

Holiday Shopping

One of the joys of going to a 'resort' style town for your holiday is that the shopping is great on the windy and cold days.  Due to some of the unplanned things that happened our shopping took on a slightly different tack than normal.  We found ourselves in the Salvation Army Store looking for a woolen blanket for Nic...the nights were very cold.  We also found ourselves at Wanaka Wastebusters which was fantastic- legendary - and you must go next time you are in Wanaka.  We got snow chains, brand new for $10.

Our disastrous boat trailer tyre incident meant we met Lucy who owns Escape in the main street and also Mr Robinson of Mrs Robinson in Tarras.  Nice people and retail outlets.  Our neighbour at Glandhu Bay owns the menswear store in town called Structure for Men.  Another very kind and lovely person.  I am doing plugs for their businesses because they are lovely people and their stores are good too.  So if you are in the neighbourhood, check them out.  

 Another joy of travelling is finding the farmers markets and we happened upon a very lovely little market on a cold an windy day which turned out to be a very cold, wet and windy night in which we bailed from our tent.  Another story for another day.

Francesca's Wood Fired Pizza with Stewart Island salmon, fresh Central Otago apricots and the plumpest cherries ever and lastly German cherry custard tart were our highlights...YUM

Oh yes and we spent a very happy time in Gallery 33 buying a stunning piece of artwork to add to our very small and learner art collection. 

The Descendents

Love George Clooney for his ability to act and his choice of films.  This film is about a family in a bit of a crisis.  The mother is in a coma and as she lies there secrets are revealed and dealing with these as well as another string of family related issues in the extended whanau are played out through George's character Matt.  I loved the setting of Hawaii, the real Hawaii, the lack of bright sun, the relaxed shirts, sandals and messy hair.  Of course there is more to it than the look but it all added to the feel of the film.  I learned some stuff from the characters and loved the writing.   Loved the characters and the understatement of the direction and acting.  Go and see it, it is a good film.

Holiday

We are back from our annual end of January camping holiday.  Not from our beloved Totaranui which may never again be accessible to us in the same way, but rather from the south, the stark and beautiful Central Otago region.  Wanaka has always been a winter or autumn destination for us, not a mid summer one.  We took our big tent, small boat, kayak, 3 bikes and a ski biscuit.  It was a holiday of extremes and some incidents that up until now have not plagued  previous camping holidays.  The key features were wind....lots of it, some snow and extreme heat.  Without dwelling on those things, here are some pictures of our holiday.

 Lake Pukaki on the way down...Aoraki Mt Cook in the background

 Wow!!

 Lake Wanaka and Nic all geared up for a big day in the water

 Jonty and Nic enjoying a quiet rid on the boat

 Morning on the lake

A hot morning and a tiny beach all to ourselves

Glendhu Bay on a very hot day

The mighty Clutha River

Swing bridge up the Matukituki Valley

Up the Matukituki Valley at the end of the road

Nic and Charlotte

The joy of watching two children together who just get each other so much but are not born of the same people.  Amazing connection.  I hope it lasts.  Gorgeous

The adventures of Tin Tin

Saw the movie, never read one of the books.  We went as a family...as an aside I must say I am loving the films of an 8 year old MUCH more than some of the shit I have had to watch over the years. 

Gorgeously crafted with all the charm of the books (I understand from Jonty), I really enjoyed the experience and had little jokes to laugh at and just could not get my head around the animation. Sooo clever.  Didnt see it in 3D.  3D is over rated after the first few minutes I think.  Not much to say other than it was a good film.  Here is a link to a blog post on Christchurch City Libraries Kids Blog written by our very talented and knowledgable Zac.  You can get a much better idea of the film from this, rather than 'nice film' from me.

Just finished reading #47

Cutting for Stone -Abraham Verghese

This is a book I had been ignoring in the book group library for over a year; this was due mainly to two things…. The cover and the setting.  Books set in the misery of the African continent tend not to be appealing to me, however, my pals implored I read it as it was becoming a favorite of the group.  So, I tackled it in late November and have only just finished it.  Since living in an earthquake zone I would have to say reading becomes a very difficult activity.  Not because of shaking but of your mind finding it hard to focus.  Plus, I have issues with most books I read these days as I suspect they lack an editors hand and have between 50-100 pages too many.  I find myself bogged in the middle reading superfluous blah blah.  I am sure this is a well worn record from me so I will move on.  

Marion Stone is the narrator, a twin to Shiva; he is born in the Missing hospital in Addis Ababa during the time of Emperor Haile Selasie.  Their mother, a nun, dies during the birth and the father disappears.  From here we live through the trials and tribulations of Ethiopian politics and history as well as those of a hospital in a poor nation and in a loving family of two Indian Doctors who lovingly and mildly eccentrically raise these boys.   The life they have with their nanny and helpers is wonderful and warm. A lovely story of culture, history, life, love, cultures and traditions.  I really did enjoy it and raced through the last 250 pages in a day or so.  It isn’t depressing or worthy, rather a story of love and loyalty.  I really enjoyed the extensive medical stuff.  Well written and a good holiday read with a bit more.

On another note, I picked up a ‘chic lit’ title from the library for my real holiday reading.  40 pages in and I was furious with the character and the plot had a giant hole in it.  I am not a great reader but really, yuk.  That will teach me.   I am sure there is a ton of great chic lit out there but I obviously can’t pick them. 

Verdicts

Iron Lady, good film, great acting.  Makes me want to do the research.  I like it when a film does that.  Meryl Streep is stunning as always.  I can't imagine how she does what she does.

I am sorry to mention this but it has been rather and extraordinary morning of earthquakes.  We had a big 5.5 at 5.45am and have had about 20 since NYE.  Very not nice.  Interestingly, and I am sure this is the coping mechanism of people but people thinking that just because we humans think it is a new year and are keen to see the shit of 2011 behind us does not mean the EQ activity is going to change one bit.,  The earth does not work on the Julian calendar.  Sad but true.

2012 Day One

Welcome to 2012 friends.  I was going to reconnect with my blog in a more robust fashion on day one of my holiday 23 December 2011).  I was going to post a witty plot of the day and the musings of a woman on holiday.  But as is often the case these days, we had a kick arse stinking earthquake that ruined all of that.

HOWEVER, today is a new year and although I have no doubt at all that will continue to have shocking earthquakes, I am not going to let those bloody things stop me from doing things.  So, DAY ONE....mmm.

A tiny bit of musing, some shopping, packing for our holiday at our bach, some reading, entertaining and sitting in the sun in our backyard.  A pretty normal day in the life of us since Christmas.  There could be two highlights to this day.

1.  Iron Lady...will tell you later
2.  Another Donna Hay divine dish...it will be a close call. I made this last night and it was stunning in its simplicity and taste.   It tastes better than it looks. Tonight, with the chicken we didn't use I am doing a slightly altered version and am using a courgette out of my garden.  I am also wrapping the chicken in prosciutto not chopping it up so we will see how that goes.   Here is a link to the recipe. 

Strawberry

I made this today.  It has taken about 4 hours from start to finish.  Lucky I have plenty to do while the 4 layers of jelly set.  Interesting how often magazine recipes are not as rigorously represented as cook books.  See the size of this?  Looks like a loaf tin sized dessert. Times that by 3 and you have the actual size.  Imagine the cost of ingredients...don't got there.  Anyway, if anyone is passing in the next day or so, there will be a giant amount of strawberry and mascapone terrine sitting in the fridge.  Pop in and enjoy some, I think it is going to taste heavenly